Bahaujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati hit out at the NDA government at the Centre stating that the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Scheme’ should also include free lPG gas along with the connection for the poor.
Under the Ujjawala Scheme, the Centre will provide free lPG connections with regulator to five crore poor families. The scheme was launched by PM Narendra Modi in Ballia last Sunday.
“Giving free connection would not help the poor. Only if free lPG is supplied to them will the Scheme serve some purpose of welfare,” asserted Mayawati on Tuesday.
In a statement issued in lucknow, Mayawati said that the number of free lPG connections should also be increased as the proposed five crore connections would only cover a miniscule populace of the poor. The BSP chief was also critical of the Prime Minister for distributing e-rickshaws in his parliamentary constituency and ignoring rest of the 79 lok Sabha constituencies in UP.
“The mindset of PM Modi is akin to that of the Congress and Samajwadi Party. While during its regime, Congress worked only in Rae Bareli and Amethi ignoring rest of the state, the present SP regime too is doing work in Etawah and adjoining districts only,’’ she alleged.
Mayawati claimed that funds deposited in Jan Dhan Yojna were being misused by industrialists while the poor were not benefiting. She also charged the Centre and UP governments of ignoring the farmers in drought-hit UP, especially Bundelkhand.
Meanwhile, BSP legislator Uma Shankar Singh alleged that the PM was misleading the country by citing ‘wrong’ reasons for choosing Ballia for launching the Ujjwala scheme.
Singh, an MlA from Rasda (Ballia), said at a press conference at Ballia on Tuesday afternoon that Modi had told people that he had selected the district as it had the lowest number of families using lPG for cooking which was wrong.
The MlA said that official data showed that of the 4.8 lakh families, 2.75 lakh had lPG connections by April 20. This works out to around 57 per cent. Describing the scheme as a ‘fraud’ on the poor, Singh said that at first it appeared that the fuel would be provided free of cost, but it later transpired that only connections were free and BPl families would have to purchase the cylinders.